MOBILE ASSET LOCATION IN STRUCTURE

• US 20110248847A1
• Filed: 04/08/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Plocher, Tom, Huseth, Steve D.
• Application Number:
  US12/756,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20110248847A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons

Abstract

A system and method are used to determine at least two distances to a mobile asset in a structure from first and second anchor transceivers placed a known distance from each other. A view of the structure is created as a function of a location corresponding to the two anchor transceivers. A representation of the mobile asset is included in the view of the structure.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining at least two distances to a mobile asset in a structure from first and second anchor transceivers placed a known distance from each other;

creating a view of the structure as a function of a location corresponding to the two anchor transceivers; and

including a representation of the mobile asset in the view of the structure.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising determining distances for multiple mobile assets and including representations of the multiple mobile assets in the view of the structure.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the distances are calculated as a function of time of flight.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the mobile asset includes a mobile transceiver to respond to communications from the first and second anchor transceivers.

5. The method of claim 1 and further including calculating a distance between a third anchor transceiver and the mobile asset to uniquely identify a direction in which the mobile asset is located.

6. The method of claim 1 and further including calculating a distance between a third anchor transceiver that is vertically displaced from the first and second anchor transceivers and the mobile asset to identify a vertical displacement of the mobile asset within the structure.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the view is a perspective view provided on a display device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the view of the structure is oriented as a function of the location of the display device to provide an ego centric view of the structure as the display device changes locations.

20. The device readable medium of claim 1 wherein the view is a perspective view provided on a display device, and wherein the view is display device centric.

9. A system comprising:

a first anchor transceiver;

a second anchor transceiver; and

a display device coupled to receive a first distance of a mobile asset detected by the first anchor transceiver, a second distance of the mobile asset detected by the second anchor transceiver, a representation of a structure, and a distance between the first and second anchor transceiver to generate a display device centric view of the structure showing the mobile asset within the structure.

10. The system of claim 9 and further comprising a vehicle in which the first and second anchor transceivers are mounted a fixed distance from each other.

11. The system of claim 10 and further comprising a third anchor transceiver mounted on the vehicle a distance from the first and second anchor transceivers to provide a third distance to the mobile asset to uniquely identify the direction of the mobile asset from the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 10 and further comprising a vertically offset anchor transceiver mounted on the vehicle a known vertical distance from the first and second anchor transceivers to provide a vertical distance to the mobile asset to identify a vertical coordinate of the mobile asset with respect to the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 10 and further comprising at least one distance sensor mounted to determine a distance between the vehicle and the structure.

14. The system of claim 10 and further comprising a vertically offset anchor transceiver mounted on the vehicle a known vertical distance from the first and second anchor transceivers to provide a vertical distance to the mobile asset to identify a vertical coordinate of the mobile asset with respect to the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein multiple mobile assets are shown in the view of the structure.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the first and second distances are calculated as a function of time of flight.

17. A device readable medium having instruction stored thereon to cause a computer system to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining at least two distances to a mobile asset in a structure from first and second anchor transceivers placed a known distance from each other;

creating a view of a structure as a function of a location corresponding to the two anchor transceivers; and

including a representation of the mobile asset in the view of the structure.

18. The device readable medium of claim 17 and further comprising determining distances for multiple mobile assets and including representations of the multiple mobile assets in the view of the structure, and wherein the distances are calculated as a function of time of flight.

19. The device readable medium of claim 17 and further comprising:

calculating a distance between a third anchor transceiver to the mobile asset to uniquely identify a direction in which the mobile asset is located; and

calculating a distance between a vertically displaced anchor transceiver to the mobile asset to identify a vertical displacement of the mobile asset within the structure.